Flat knitting machine



March 21, 1939. K. R. LIEBERKNECHT FLAT KNITTING MACHINE Filed May 6, 1937 3 SheetsSheet l March 21, 193 K. R. LIEBER-KNEC HT 2,150,931

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FLAT KNITTING MACHINE iled May 6, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ITIIT' .WINENIR Patented Mar. 21, 1939 PATENT OFFICE FLAT KNITTING MACHINE Karl Richard ljeberknecht, Oberlungwitz, Germany, assignor to Kalio, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New'York Application May 6, 1937, Serial No. 141,006

10 Claims.

The present invention relates to fiat knitting machines.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide means for automatically controlling the connection of a carrier rod with its friction box.

With this and other objects in view as will hereinafter appear, the present invention consists of the knitting machine hereinafter described, and particularly defined inthe claims.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a sectional end elevation of so much of a knitting machine as is necessary for an understanding of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view on a reduced scale showing the carrier rods with the friction driving and automatic control mechanism; Fig. 3 is a plan view on an enlarged scale, of the friction boxes and associated parts used for operating the plating carriers; Fig. 4 is a front view of the friction boxes shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the driving mechanism as used for plain fabric knitting; Fig. 6 is a detail view to be referred to; Fig. 7 is a front elevation of a friction box for plain fabric knitting; and Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 8-8 of Fig.7.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a fiat knitting machine having a series of carrier rods designated by the even numbers I0 to26 inclusive. The carrier rods are mounted to reciprocate in a bracket 28 and are provided with carrier tubes indicated generally at 30. The machine is provided with the friction rod 32 which is reciprocated by the usual Coulier motion. Mounted on the rod 32 are a plurality of friction boxes or drivers which are of two types, one type indicated at 34 in Fig. 7 for operating the carrier rods for making plain fabric, and the other type indicated at 36 for operating the plating carrier rods. Certain of the carrier rods shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are forplating, while the remainder are for knitting plain fabric.

The friction boxes 34 for the plain fabric carrier rods will first be described. These are shown in Figs. '7 and 8, each comprising the usual leathers which are clamped to the friction rod 32 by a spring 38. The upper surface of each box is provided with a slot 40 for engagement with a connecting arm to be hereinafter described. At the outer ends the upper face is beveled, as indicated at 42, to permit lifting of the connecting arm during traverse of the box and prior to engagement of the arm in the slot 40. Stationary stops 8!) which are similar in construction and in the function which they perform to stops 80 cooperating with friction boxes 38 as hereinafter described, serve to limit the idle movement of the friction boxes 34 in opposite directions. These stops 80' are preferably located to pro-, 5 vide a suflicient carrier lead for satisfactory operation during the knitting of full width fabric, this lead being allowed to increase as narrowing takes place.

Each of the carrier rods is actuated by a driving finger, the several driving fingers being indicated generally at 44. As shown in Fig. 2, the, driving fingers 44 are spaced at intervals lengthwise of the machine and are suitably arranged for selective connection to their respective carrier rods, preferably through the engagement of manually operated driving fingers 44 with dogs 45 shown in Fig. 3.

The driving fingers 44 are pivoted on studs 46 connected to driving slides 48 which reciprocate on a stationary shaft 49 secured to the machine frame, the driving slides being prevented from turning on the shaft 49 by means of a guide rod 50. As shown in Fig. 2, one or more of the driving fingers 44 may be associated with each of the driving slides 48, depending on whether one or more carrier rods are to be placed under the control of a single driving slide. Reciprocation of any driving slide actuates the carrier rods to which it is connected by the driving fingers 44.

The driving slides are selectively reciprocated from the friction boxes 34 by means of connecting arms indicated at 52. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, each driving slide is provided with two connecting arms pivoted on the stud 46 at the outer ends thereof. Each connecting arm has a downwardly extending front portion 54 adapted to engage in the slot 40 of a corresponding friction box, as shown in Fig. '7. Attached to each connecting arm in the rear of the stud 46 .is a spring 58, one end of which is secured to a stationary part of the slide. The springacts to pull the front end 54 of the connecting arm downwardly, unless the arm is restrained by a rod engaging the tail of the connecting arm. As 45 shown in Fig. 2, several restraining rods 60 are provided, each overlying several of the connecting arms. Each rod 60 is carried at its ends by levers 62 which are fixed to swing on rock shafts 64, the levers being normally pulled down- 50 wardly in restraining position by springs 66.

Each of the shafts 64 is provided with a tail 68 serving as a cam follower cooperating with a cam 10 on a shaft 12 extending across the machine. As shown in Fig. 1, one of the levers 52 55 is shown cammed outwardly by an attached lobe 14 of its particular cam, thereby lifting the corresponding restraining rod, and permitting any connecting arm 52 controlled thereby to be pulled forwardly by its spring 58. On the next traverse of a friction box under the connecting arm, the front end 54 of the arm snaps into the slot 40 and the proper carrier or carriers are thereafter reciprocated until the connecting arm is removed from engagement with the friction box by rotation of the shaft 12 to a position where the cam follower 68 engages a low part of the cam. When the friction box 34 is released from engagement with the driving slide 48 as above described, regardless of the width of fabric being knitted, the friction box 34 will traverse to one or the other of the limiting stops 80', which acts as above set forth, to preserve the proper lead relation between the friction box and the slur-cock cams.

As many cams 10 are provided as are necessary for the control of the several carriers of the machine. The shaft 12 on which the cams are mounted is advanced in a regular manner, preferably by automatic devices actuated from the pattern mechanism of the machine, as described in my copending application Serial No. 141,005, filed of even date herewith. For the purposes of the present invention, a description of the actuating devices is unnecessary, it being understood that the shaft is intermittently advanced, and that the variouscams 10 are provided with suitable lobes of the type indicated at 14 to bring the selected carriers into operation at the proper times.

It will be noted that two connecting arms 52 are provided for each driving slide, while only one of them can engage in the single slot of the friction box, as shown in Fig. '7. Since the traverse of the plain-fabric carriers is determined by stops associated with the carrier rods themselves (indicated generally at T5 in Fig. 2), it is immaterial which of the connecting arms is enaged with the friction box. However, the construction whereby the friction box may pick up one or the other connecting arms, depending on the direction of traverse, at the time the connecting arm is engaged by the box, effects a saving in the longitudinal space required to accommodate the friction boxes.

For the plating carriers, the operation is similar, except that two friction boxes 36 are provided for a single driving slide, that is, one friction box for each direction of movement of the carrier rod. The construction is specifically shown in Figs. 3 and 4, each box 36 having at its.

outer end a beveled top surface 16 and at its inner end a notch 18 to engage one of the connecting fingers 52 on the driving slide. This construction permits the friction box on an inactive stroke to overtravel its carrier, so that on the next stroke in the opposite direction, the carrier rod driven thereby may have a predetermined lead with respect to the sinkers. Stops O0 adjustably mounted on the shaft 49 are provided to limit the inactive strokes of the friction boxes. Thus, inFig. 4, the boxes have just completed a stroke to the left; the right-hand box, which has been the active one, has been stopped through the action of the carrier stop, while the left-hand or inactive box has been stopped at 8|. On the tion to the carrier rod stops and provides for exactly the proper lead of the plating carriers with respect to the sinkers.

It will bereadily appreciated that with the construction and arrangement of the driving frictions above described for driving the plating carriers, the same plating carrier lead will be maintained independently of variations in the length of the plating carrier stroke which may be effected in a normal manner by the adjustment of the plating carrier stops as, for example, in the knitting of the high heel portions of the blank. Assuming that one of the plating carrier stops is shifted inwardly to cause the plating carrier to stop at the end of a relatively shorter stroke, the leading or inactive carrier friction 36 will continue to move a correspondingly greater distance until arrested by engagement with its stop 80. During the return stroke of the friction rod, this friction will move through the same increased distance before actively engaging the plating carrier rod so that the position of the carrier relative to the Coulier driven slur-cock and friction rod 32 during traverse in the return direction, will remain unchanged. Similarly, an adjustment of the carrier stop to increase the length of the plating carrier stroke will cause the leading or inactive friction to travel a relatively shorter distance before engaging its stop 80 and to pick up the carrier at a relatively earlier point on the return stroke to maintain the same carrier lead.

Although one specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to such embodiment, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A flat knitting machine comprising a carrier rod, a driving slide, a driving finger for imparting reciprocating motion from the driving slide to the carrier rod, a friction box, a connecting arm detachably connecting the friction box and the driving slide, and automatic means for operating the connecting arm.

2. A flat knitting machine comprising a carrier rod, a driving slide, a driving finger for imparting reciprocating motion from the driving slide to the carrier rod, a friction box having a slot, a.connecting arm carried by the driving slide and adapted to engage the slot in the friction box, means for normally holding the connecting arm out of engagement with the friction matically operable at a predetermined point in the knitting operation to permit engagement of the arm in said slot.

4. A flat knitting machine comprising a carrier rod, a driving slide, a driving finger for imparting reciprocating motion from the driving slide to the carrier rod, a friction box, a connecting arm detachably connecting the friction box and the driving slide, and automatic means to permit the connecting arm to engage the friction box during a traverse of the latter. 4

5. A fiat knitting machine comprising a carrier rod, a friction box, means for reciprocating the carrier rod from the friction box including a connecting arm normally disengaged from the friction box, and automatic means for permitting engagement of the connecting arm and the friction box during a traverse of the latter.

6. A flat knitting machine comprising a carrier rod, a friction box, having a slot, a connecting arm supported to move with the carrier rod and having a portion to engage in the slot, means for holding the connecting arm out of engagement with the box, and automatic means for releasing the holding means.

7. In a fiat knitting machine, a plating carrier rod, two friction boxes for operating the carrier rod, stops for the friction boxes, connecting arms supported to move with the carrier rod and normally maintained out of engagement with the boxes, and means for permitting engagement of the connecting arms with the boxes.

8. In a flat knitting machine, a friction box, a carrier rod, a carrier stop, a stop for the friction box, means for reciprocating the carrier rod from the friction box including an arm normally disconnected from the friction box, and automatic means for permitting engagement of the connecting arm and the friction box during the traverse of the latter.

9. In a fiat knitting machine, the combination of a plurality of carrier rods, a driving slide, means selectively operable for connecting certain of said 'rods in driving relation to impart reciprocating motion from the driving slide to said certain carrier rod or rods, a friction box, a connecting arm detachably connecting the friction box and the driving slide, automatic means for controlling said arm to operatively connect the slide to move with the friction box during the traverse of the latter, and a stop for limiting the traverse of the friction box when disconnected from the carrier.

10. In a flat knitting machine, the combination of a carrier rod, a friction box, means for reciprocating the carrierrod from the friction box including a connecting arm supported to move with the carrier rod and normally disengaged from the friction box, and automatic means for permitting the engagement of the connecting arm and the friction box during the traverse of the latter, said automatic means comprising a cam drum, a cam actuated lever, and an actuator controlled by said lever arranged to act upon said arm.

- KARL RICHARD LIEBERKN'ECHT. 

